


The Kitten

by GypsySisters



Category: The OA (TV)
Genre: F/M, HOAp, Kittens, Seaside AU, the first and second movements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 03:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13494638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GypsySisters/pseuds/GypsySisters
Summary: In order to appreciate this Hap x Prairie drabble there are a few headcanons that need to be explained. My friend and I have this version of events that proceed as follows:- Prairie finds Homer and they run off into the sunset to live happily ever after.- Except they aren’t a good fit. After the confines of Hap’s experiment, their stark differences truly come to light, and their relationship gets more and more tense until, one day, Prairie leaves Homer as a sort of mercy. To free him. So he can be happy.- She travels. Writes short stories.- Meanwhile, Hap has tried to redeem himself, changing his ways and trying to do good in the world.- Eventually, another happy accident happens. They stumble across each other in a foreign cafe, and sit together, catch up, reconnect.- Over time, they rekindle their bond. She forgives him. They start to travel together and eventually purchase a place by the sea, an old lighthouse converted into a home. They travel periodically, but always come back to this home.This is the Seaside AU.





	The Kitten

**Author's Note:**

> In order to appreciate this Hap x Prairie drabble there are a few headcanons that need to be explained. My friend and I have this version of events that proceed as follows:  
> \- Prairie finds Homer and they run off into the sunset to live happily ever after.  
> \- Except they aren’t a good fit. After the confines of Hap’s experiment, their stark differences truly come to light, and their relationship gets more and more tense until, one day, Prairie leaves Homer as a sort of mercy. To free him. So he can be happy.  
> \- She travels. Writes short stories.  
> \- Meanwhile, Hap has tried to redeem himself, changing his ways and trying to do good in the world.  
> \- Eventually, another happy accident happens. They stumble across each other in a foreign cafe, and sit together, catch up, reconnect.  
> \- Over time, they rekindle their bond. She forgives him. They start to travel together and eventually purchase a place by the sea, an old lighthouse converted into a home. They travel periodically, but always come back to this home.
> 
> This is the Seaside AU.

Prairie never gets a cat, but the strays love her. One week, a cat will follow her around, the next week, a dog. They come and go as they have the need, but they always go eventually. She is like a waypoint for the strays.

One day she comes rushing into Hap’s room, crying, heartbroken, the little tabby that had been following her all week clutched in her hands, it’s tiny body broken and bloody. “I found him on the road!” She barely gets the words out. She’s shaking, so upset.

Of course he knows why she has brought the kitten in. He knows what must be done. And right away. “This is not your fault” he says to comfort her. “You did not do this.” And he takes the kitten from her, lying it gently on his desk

She is too distraught. She is having trouble collecting herself. “But if he hadn’t been folowing me, he wouldn’t have been on the road. I found him on the road. I should be more careful. I should walk another way.”

“Come now, Prairie.” He stands opposite her. Waiting. “Nothing is too far gone. If you could mend my heart, nothing is impossible” Instead of comforting her, he calls upon her resiliency. Calls upon her to pour her pain and sorrow into the movements.

She knows he’s right. She responds to his direction. She pours her grief and sorrow over the kitten’s broken body into the first and second movements… and they carry with them a feeling of grief, too, over what she’d lost with Homer…the life she was unable to lead.

But Hap is here with her now. And he does the movements with her, saving this kitten’s life. Bringing it back from beyond the grave.

For hours they do the movements, pouring their sadness out. And healing so much more than the kitten. Healing something they had forgotten was broken between them.

After the kitten raises its little head, interrupts them with a mewl, Prairie scoops it up in her hands, tears of joy streaming down her face.

The kitten crawls into their bed that night, curls up in her hair. But Hap can’t sleep. “Prairie?”

“Hmmmm. Yea?”

“It was never your fault.”

She listens. She knows what he’s talking about. He’s talking about Scott.

“You didn’t do it. It was me. I did it.”

She places her hand on his shoulder. His agony is palpable.

“I… I’m sorry… for…”

“Shh…” She knows. She knows what he’s trying to say. She slides her hair out from under the kitten, leans over him, her features caught up in moonlight. “It’s ok.”

He’s angry. “No. It’s not! How can it be ok?” It’s the great mystery. How can she be here? How could she have chosen him? Why did she love him?

“Because I say it’s ok.” She says the words so plainly. So emphatically. Like it’s a decree. She chooses to forgive. She chooses to love. She chooses: him.

It’s… maddening… how can anyone live like that? But he looks in her eyes, and he knows. She isn’t just anyone. She’s an angel. His angel. And he could study this mystery for the rest of his life and, in doing so, ruin it.

Or? He could just accept it. And love her back.


End file.
